Blood Cobalt: How Congolese Children Power Your Smartphone

By Haley Wehner

I.  Introduction: Cobalt Mining in The Democratic Republic of Congo

The world’s largest known source of cobalt, a crucial metal in the lithium-ion batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, is hidden beneath the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) fertile red soil.[1] Without cobalt, people around the world would not be able to send emails, check social media, operate an electric car, or fly home for the holidays.[2] Approximately seventy percent of the cobalt consumed worldwide is produced in the DRC, outpacing its two nearest rivals, Australia and Russia.[3] Overall, it is believed that the DRC contains undeveloped mineral resources worth $24 trillion.[4]

Notably, artisanal and small-scale mining accounts for fifteen to thirty percent of Congolese cobalt production.[5] Workers from all around the world engage in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) using simple tools to mine everything from gold and gemstones to necessary metals like cobalt, tin, tungsten, and tantalum.[6] Artisanal mining in the DRC — a nation ravaged by bloody ethnic warfare, Ebola, and high levels of corruption — present particularly high threats to human rights.[7] Some of these human rights atrocities include child labor, exposure to toxic cobalt particles, and frequent tunnel collapses plague the mining communities in the DRC.[8]

II.  Human Rights Abuses in the Mining of Cobalt

Artisanal miners work in mines that they dig themselves. These hand-dug mines are poorly ventilated and can extend tens of meters deep, frequently without any kind of support.[9] The artisanal mines “are often no more than narrow shafts dug into the ground, which is why children are recruited, and in many cases forced, to descend into them, using only their hands or rudimentary tools without any protective equipment, to extract cobalt and other minerals.”[10] Dongfang Congo Mining, a Chinese company, operates one of the biggest artisanal mines in the city of Kasulo, where children are frequently exposed to radioactive minerals, injuries, and painful, deadly infections as they harvest the lucrative metal.[11]

In 2019, numerous Congolese families filed a lawsuit against Apple, Google, Dell, Microsoft, and Tesla alleging that these companies “aided and abetted the mining companies that profited from the labor of children.”[12] These Congolese children were forced to work in dangerous conditions that led to death and serious injury.[13] The families asserted that their children were engaged in illegal labor at mines operated by the Swiss mining corporation Glencore.[14] They also claim their children were paid as little as $2 a day for labor intensive and hazardous work, such as digging for cobalt rocks with crude tools in unstable, subterranean tunnels.[15] The Congolese families revealed that some of the children died in tunnel collapses, while others were permanently disabled or other accident-related life-altering disabilities.[16]

Three young African miners work in an underground mine and dig for cobalt. Courtesy iStock.

One plaintiff, named in the complaint as Jane Doe 1, claimed that when her nephew was a young child, his family was pushed to look for employment in the cobalt mines because they were unable to pay his $6 monthly school fee.[17] According to the lawsuit, the young child was employed in a mine run by Kamoto Copper Company, a subsidiary owned and operated by Glencore.[18] Tragically, when he was mining for cobalt rocks in an underground tunnel, the tunnel collapsed, burying him alive.[19] According to his relatives, authorities have never located his body.[20] Another child, referred to as John Doe 1 also, claims that he began working in the mines when he was nine years old.[21] According to the lawsuit, he was hauling bags of cobalt rocks for Kamoto Copper Company, for a measly $0.75 per day, when he fell into a tunnel.[22] He claimed that after being pulled out of the tunnel by other workers, he was left on the ground at the mining site alone until his parents learned of the incident and came to help him.[23] As a result of the accident, he can no longer walk and is now paralyzed from the chest down.[24]

Unfortunately, the lawsuit was fruitless.[25] In 2021, U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols let the mega companies off the hook, stating that while the complaint lists “tragic events” the suit could not link the U.S. tech giants and “that the only real connection is that the companies buy refined cobalt.”[26]

III.  The Future of Cobalt Mining

Unfortunately, cobalt mining is only expected to explode in the coming decades. For example, electric vehicles, which require, on average, between 6kg and 12kg of cobalt, are predicted to grow from 3 million in 2020 to 66 million in 2040.[27]  Some automakers have already committed to investigating their supply chain to make sure that no child labor is utilized to power their electric vehicles.[28] For instance, Mercedes-Benz Group AG's (previously Daimler AG) released a statement from its director of integrity and legal affairs stating, “We want to prevent violations of human rights effectively at an early stage, and have created the necessary tools to do so.”[29] While the Mercedes-Benz Group has long “explicitly outlawed” child labor in its supply chain, it has admitted, like other automakers, how challenging it is to trace the origin of cobalt, a mineral used in lithium-ion batteries.[30] In contrast, U.S. automakers like Tesla will collaborate with Glencore, one of the biggest, and most corrupt, commodity trading companies in the world.[31]

While battery-powered vehicles are the most promising alternative to gas-powered vehicles, they depend on cobalt.[32] Until companies stop turning a blind eye to the human rights abuses taking place during cobalt abstraction, these atrocities will only get worse.[33]

[1] Michael Davie, Blood Cobalt One of the Poorest Countries on Earth is Paying a Heavy Price for the World’s Green Energy Revolution, Hum. Trafficking Search, https://humantraffickingsearch.org/resource/blood-cobalt-one-of-the-poorest-countries-on-earth-is-paying-a-heavy-price-for-the-worlds-green-energy-revolution/ (last visited Jan. 22, 2023). 

[2] Siddhath Kara, Is Your Phone Tainted by the Misery of the 35,000 Children in Congo’s Mines?, Guardian (Oct. 12, 2018), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/oct/12/phone-misery-children-congo-cobalt-mines-drc. 

[3] Davie, supra note 1.

[4] Conor Gallagher, The U.S. and China are Rushing to Secure Resources in DR Congo, Yahoo Fin. (Dec. 27, 2022), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-china-rushing-secure-resources-180000142.html. 

[5] Making Mining Safe and Fair: Artisanal Cobalt Extraction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Relief Web (Sept. 17, 2020), https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/making-mining-safe-and-fair-artisanal-cobalt-extraction-democratic.

[6] Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining, Pact World, https://www.pactworld.org/our-expertise/mining (last visited Jan. 22, 2023).

[7] This is What We Die For: Human Rights Abuses in The Democratic Republic of the Congo Power the Global Trade in Cobalt, Amnesty Int’l (2016), https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AFR6231832016ENGLISH.pdf.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Zelda Caldwell, Testimony: China-Backed Cobalt Mines in Congo Exploit 40,000 Child Workers, Catholic News Agency (July 16, 2022), https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251800/congo-cobalt-mines-china-child-labor. 

[11] Id.

[12] Annie Kelly, Apple and Google Named in US Lawsuit over Congolese Child Cobalt Mining Death, Guardian  (Dec. 16, 2019), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths.

[13] Id.

[14] Id. According to their website, Glencore’s purpose is to “responsibly sourc[e] the commodities that advance everyday life.” Glencore.com, https://www.glencore.com/ (last visited Jan. 22, 2023). However, Glencore is reported to have the worst human rights record amongst companies working in green metals extraction. Caroline Dumoulin, Accountable for Corruption, But Not for Human Rights Abuses: The Case of Glencore, Int’l Corp. Accountability Roundtable (Aug. 5, 2022), https://icar.ngo/accountable-for-corruption-but-not-for-human-rights-abuse-the-case-of-glencore/.  

[15] Kelly, supra note 12.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] Id.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Id.

[23] Id.

[24] Id.

[25] See e.g., Tesla, Apple, Google, Microsoft Dodge Congo Cobalt Class-Action, Mining.com (Nov. 3, 2021), https://www.mining.com/tesla-apple-google-microsoft-dodge-congo-cobalt-class-action/.

[26] Id.

[27] Leah Chen, Electric Vehicles and the Nickel Supply Conundrum: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead, S&P Global (Dec. 31, 2021), https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/blogs/metals/123121-nickel-supply-electric-vehicle-demand.

[28] See e.g., Mark Thompson, Daimler Promises to Audit Cobalt Supply to Ensure Child Labor Not Used to Power its Electric Vehicles, Bus, & Hum. Rts. Res. Ctr. (May 3, 2018), https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/daimler-promises-to-audit-cobalt-supply-to-ensure-child-labour-not-used-to-power-its-electric-vehicles/. 

[29] Id.

[30] Id.

[31] Michael Posner, How Tesla Should Combat Child Labor in The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Forbes (Oct. 7, 2020), https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelposner/2020/10/07/how-tesla-should-combat-child-labor-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/?sh=60e8a3be5cd0.

[32] Are Electric Vehicles Definitely Better for the Climate than Gas-Powered Cars?, MIT Climate (Oct. 13, 2022), https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/are-electric-vehicles-definitely-better-climate-gas-powered-cars. 

[33] See Amnesty Int’l, supra note 7.